Li Auto has record sales

Shares in Li Auto, the Chinese electric car maker, fell 1 per cent on Monday amid reports of record sales but posting a loss, while analysts had expected a break-even. Li Auto says it plans to expand in Europe.

Li Auto (LI), a Chinese electric car startup whose production so far is limited to one Li ONE model, on Monday reported unaudited financial results for Q2 2021, ended 30 June.

Li Auto shares fell 1.06% on Monday. Investors have seen a picture of high volatility in these shares since they went public on the NASDAQ exchange on 30 July.

Li Auto's shares have been little changed since the beginning of 2021, while last year they hit a record high. Shares in the Chinese carmaker fell almost 40% today from a 52-week high, but have risen 26% in the past three months.

Li Auto's financial report

For the second fiscal quarter, the company said deliveries of its Li ONE electric vehicles rose 166.1% to 17,575 units. Meanwhile, the 251.3% growth rate to 8,589 units in July demonstrates that Li Auto is accelerating the pace of production ramp-up.

The company began mass production of the Li One in November 2019 and launched the upgraded Li One 2021 in May.

Li Auto's revenues jumped 159% to $780.4m. (RM5.04 billion), beating expectations of $774 million. (RM4.68 billion).

However, the company still remains loss-making with a quarterly loss per share of $0.01, while market analysts on average expected it to reach break-even.

The company posted an operating loss of $56.6 million (RM365.5 million) in the second quarter. (RMB365.5 million), up 107% from a year ago.

The loss was mainly due to higher administrative and research and development costs than the auto profit issue.

Li Auto's sales profitability rose to 18.7% in the second quarter, up from 16.9% in the previous three months.

Li Auto forecast

The carmaker gave a strong forecast for the current third quarter, saying it expects to deliver between 25,000 and 26,000 electric cars, up 189% to 200% from the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue forecast: $1.08 billion to $1.12 billion.

Li Auto had a dual primary listing in Hong Kong this month and raised HK$11.8bn, echoing the success of its Chinese rival Xpeng (XPEV). Li Auto said it is considering setting up an offshore production base possibly in Europe as a springboard into the global market.